Invited Presentation

Development of a GPU Spectrometer for the ALMA Total Power Array

Author(s): Jongsoo Kim (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)

Presenter: Jongsoo Kim (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)

A GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) spectrometer for the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) Total Power Array has been developed by the KASI (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) and the NAOJ (National Astronomy Observatory of Japan). It is a first in-kind contribution of the KASI to the ALMA collaboration. The development project went through a series of milestones, from a concept design review in 2016 to commission and science verification (CSV) in 2022. During the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) maintenance period, February, 2022, the GPU spectrometer was installed in a technical building at the Array Operation Site by its developers from the KASI and the NAOJ. Right after the installation, SiO (J=2-1; v=1) 86 GHz maser spectral lines from the Orion KL region were successfully detected using the spectrometer. The CSV observations were conducted from May to April 2022. The Obsmode2022 meeting approved that the spectrometer will be used from the Cycle 10 (October 2023). In my talk, I will introduce the GPU spectrometer and tell a successful story of the spectrometer installation and CSV observations during the COVID-19 pandemic.